Fred VanHorn, age 60, of Sioux Falls, SD (formerly of Wells) died unexpectedly Thursday, January 9th, 2025 in Sioux Falls, SD. A celebration of life will be held Saturday, January 25, 2025 from 12pm-3pm at Shenanigans Pub in Sioux Falls, SD. A visitation will be held Saturday, February 8th, 2025 at 10am with a celebration of life to start at 11am at Nasinec Funeral Home in Wells with a luncheon to follow.

Frederick (Fred) Lee VanHorn was born September 30, 1964 to Allan and Mary Lea (Stoltz) VanHorn. Fred grew up on his parent’s farm near Wells with his older brother Tom. He graduated from Wells-Easton High School in 1984 and went to tech school in Mankato, MN to study car sales and parts. Following tech school, Fred managed his own NAPA store in Kenyon, MN; then moved to Mankato and became the assistant manager at the NAPA store. In the early 1990’s, Fred bought into an honor box company with Todd and Trent Weihe that later led to starting up their own vending company called Viking Vending. They successfully ran the company in Sioux Falls for 28 years before they sold it in January of 2022. Towards the end of 2022, Fred began working for Sanford Health as a courier which was his occupation until his untimely passing.

In March 2018, Fred met the love of his life, Lia Valdez at Westwinds Casino in Sioux Falls where Lia worked part-time and Fred was a regular customer. Fred swooned Lia with his iconic dimples and shy demeanor and the two were inseparable since. The two of them enjoyed traveling, golfing, spending time with family and friends and watching football. They shared a light-hearted rivalry when it came to his Minnesota Vikings and her New Orleans Saints. On Christmas Eve of 2023, Fred proposed to Lia and she of course said yes.

Fred had been an adventure seeker from the day he was born. Growing up, he loved riding motorcycles with his buddies in Wells. He also enjoyed spending time with his dad tinkering around with cars and fixing things on the farm. Fred was an avid NASCAR fan, with Dale Earnhardt Sr. being his all-time favorite racecar driver. He attended several races with his long-time friend, Mike Ewert, and he was always watching them from home as well. Another hobby of Fred’s was collecting NASCAR memorabilia, which grew to be a collection he was quite proud of.

Fred is preceded in death by his maternal and paternal grandparents; several aunts, uncles and cousins.

He is survived by his fiancé Lia and her children: Brandon Binns and Megan McGraw: step-son Jarrad (Brittany) Dahlager and their son Aiden; his parents; brother Tom (Sue) VanHorn; nephew Adam VanHorn; niece Melissa VanHorn (Joe Niebuhr) and his great nephew Ryan Clay.